“City perceptions of farming are highly selective. We’re used to tales of hardship, but tend to forget that the very business of working the land, even in good years, is eyewateringly expensive. Bores have to be sunk, post-holes dug, dams excavated, fences built, cow-crushes installed, pumps rigged, tonnes of gypsum dug into clay, and so on. Any one of these would bankrupt the average cottage gardener.”